Scenes from Antioch High School where people are still waiting in an hour-long line after the doors were locked at 7.
Mariah Timms, USA Today Network-Tennessee

Despite a heavily-contested election, turnout in Nashville and statewide still disappointed. But here are six ways to change this.

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Whitney Hanes and Gage (2) get voting instruction from Mary Costello at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, TN on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo: Dave Cardaciotto / For the Tennessean)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Davidson County is home to more than half a million adults. Unfortunately, most of them don’t vote.

Reports of record-setting early voting in the 2018 midterms and lines out the door at polling locations were exciting.

All indications were that this election was different. This time, people you knew volunteered their weekends to register voters, marches and protests seemed like evidence of a broad awakening, Taylor Swift and other celebrities encouraged people to register and vote, and open seats for governor and senator led to very competitive races.

But the reality is that turnout was lackluster. Only 244,528 cast a ballot. That’s not even half.

In the state, 2.2 million Tennesseans voted out of 5 million eligible. Only six states and Washington, D.C. had lower turnout than Tennessee’s 44 percent.

Stakes were high. The next U.S. senator from the state would help determine which party held the majority in the Senate, whether the president would continue to enjoy a Republican trifecta and rule unchecked by Congress, and whether our country will address pressing issues such as the national debt, gun control, climate change, and immigration reform, and protect coverage of pre-existing medical conditions, Medicare and Social Security.

The next governor of Tennessee might prioritize making college tuition and student loans more affordable, improving K-12 education in the state, expanding TennCare to working people who can’t afford insurance, or improving infrastructure and transportation. Could more than half of us not care one way or the other about any of these issues?

A Leon County sheriff's deputy in Florida shoots a family's dog in its own yard while visiting without telling family members to just put him up or on a leash. The cartoonist's homepage, tallahassee.com/opinion Nathan Archer, Tallahassee Democrat

The farm bill, which included stricter work requirements for receiving food stamps, failed May 18, 2018, in the House of Representatives. The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/opinion/mike-thompson Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press

Registration requirements need to be overhauled. State law says citizens must register 30 days or more before an election, which is one of the most restrictive in the country, and serves no purpose. More and more states are offering automatic or election-day registration, and Tennessee should follow suit.

Conducting elections through the mail is increasing turnout in the states that are trying it. Oregon, Washington and Colorado hold elections entirely by mail and were among the states with the highest turnouts this year. Tennessee should consider this, or at least allow counties to choose it. In addition to making voting more convenient, it would eliminate the neglected task of updating machines with paper ballot backup.

Some states send every voter a list of all candidates for office, their stands on issues, and an explanation of any referendums on the ballot. It is a dissemination of nonpartisan information, which can be hard to come by during an election, and would help inform the electorate. This could potentially boost turnout.

Many voters feel that their votes don’t matter, as elections have a foregone conclusion. Although statewide races, such as contests for governor and senator, are not affected by district lines, some would-be voters may have been turned off already by congressional and state legislative races with districts drawn in such a partisan fashion that races do appear to be a foregone conclusion. Many states have taken the task of drawing district lines out of the hands of state legislators who benefit from them and given it to a bipartisan or nonpartisan commission, and Tennessee should join them.

The media must stop reporting that Tennessee is “solidly red.” This gives the impression that races are already called, and that an individual’s vote can’t sway the election. Tennessee is purple, just like every other state.

Continue to strengthen civics education in schools. Civics is mandatory for high school graduation but tends to focus on the federal government. Incorporating education on state and local government would allow students to see how local politics directly affect their daily lives, which may entice them to engage.

Change in election laws must come from the Tennessee General Assembly, from elected legislators who may perceive that higher turnout would be a political disadvantage for them.

Republicans remain entrenched in both houses, their party seats secured by favorable district lines.